When The Forest Ran Red Story Outline
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Act 1—A Three-Sided Game
• In the 1750s England and France vie for America’s fertile Ohio Valley, which is inhabited by various Native American groups.

• France builds forts south of Lake Erie; Virginia sends 21-year-old George Washington to order the French off lands claimed by England.

• Washington scouts the strategic “Forks of the Ohio,” meeting place of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers.

• The French refuse the demands of Virginia.

• Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie sends a small militia force to the Forks to construct a stockade there.

• The French seize the British stockade and build Fort Duquesne.

• An army of Virginia militia led by Washington marches to recapture the Forks of the Ohio and camps at the Great Meadows, 60 miles southeast of Fort Duquesne.

• The French send a party of 35 soldiers under Ensign Jumonville to meet with Washington.

• Washington and a group of warriors under his Seneca ally Half King ambush the French party six miles from Great Meadows.

• After the French have surrendered, the Senecas kill some prisoners including Jumonville, who is murdered by Half King.

• A French soldier escapes to Fort Duquesne with news of the incident.

• Jumonville’s brother leads a French army to fight Washington.

• Washington constructs Fort Necessity at the Great Meadows just in time to see it surrounded by the French.

• Washington surrenders Fort Necessity after an all-day battle.  He later learns that the surrender document he signed contained an admission that he had assassinated Jumonville, a peaceful envoy.

Act 2—The Wondrous Works of Providence!

• King George II of England sends an army to America under Maj.-Gen. Edward Braddock with the goal of capturing Ft. Duquesne.

• Braddock’s formidable army includes aide-de-camp George Washington, Col. Thomas Gage, Capt. Horatio Gates, and wagon drivers Daniel Boone and Daniel Morgan.

• The British army under Braddock marches to within seven miles of Ft. Duquesne.

• A small French-allied guerrilla force led by Capt. Beaujeu hurries out to ambush Braddock at the Monongahela River before a siege of Ft. Duquesne can be undertaken.

• The British and French forces collide in the forest; Beaujeu is killed, but his forces out-maneuver the British.

• After three hours of fighting, Braddock’s force takes 70-percent casualties, the general is wounded, and nearly all 60 officers in the army are killed or wounded.

• Washington takes command of the retreating forces.

• The French capture Braddock’s supplies and round up prisoners.

• The survivors of Braddock’s command retreat to their supply base commanded by Col. Dunbar, who must either fight the French again or retreat.

• Dunbar orders hundreds of tons of supplies to be destroyed to prevent their capture by the French, creating one of the richest archaeological sites in colonial American history.

• Gen. Braddock dies and Washington orders the general’s burial in the middle of the trail to protect the body from defilement.

• Many participants in the Battle of the Monongahela go on to become famous figures in American history.

• Washington’s experience on this campaign forges his iron will so that he can become supreme commander in the American Revolution.

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